Fluid-dispensing club

ABSTRACT

A dispensing device comprising an elongate rigid holder having a handle portion and a normally closed interior chamber designed to hold an aerosol container having a normally closed delivery valve, the wall of the chamber having a discharge port; a manually controllable, external trigger device for opening the valve of the container; a concealed safety valve which normally closes said discharge port, and means accessible, at the exterior of the device, for setting said safety valve to inoperative position.

United States Patent Anketell [451 Jan. 18, 1972 [54] FLUID-DISPENSING CLUB 3,432,077 3/1969 V011 ..273/84 X [72] Invent-on John Anketeu Fitzwmiam, NH 03447 3,534,890 10/1970 Lannocone ..222/325 [22] Filed: Dec. 15, 1969 Primary Examiner-Robert B. Reeves Assistant Examiner--Larry Martin [2]] Appl' 885246 Anorney--Roberts,Cushman&Grover [52] U.S.Cl ..222/78, 273/84 [57] I ABSTRACT Eiifli' i A dispensing device comprising an elongate rigid holder hav- 222/325 273/85. 7 ing a handle portion and a normally closed interior chamber 78 79 402 40215 designed to hold an aerosol container having a normally closed delivery valve, the wall of the chamber having a [56] References Cited discharge port; a manually controllable, external trigger device for opening the valve of the container; a concealed UNITED STATES PATENTS safety valve which normally closes said discharge port, and means accessible, at the exterior of the device, for setting said 1,179,61 l 4/1916 Cilley .....273/84 Safety valve to inoperative Position, 2,914,222 11/1959 Meshberg.. ..222/162 I 3,198,399 8/1965 Sagarin ..222/325 X 4Claims, 5 Drawing Figures FLUID-DISPENSING cum This'invention pertains to dispensing devices, in particular toa holder for a container, such as an aerosol can whose contents are discharged, when so permitted, by a compressed gas held within the container.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Since the invention of tear gas or similar substantially harmlesssubstances which temporarily incapacitate a person exposed to such material, it has become customary for-police or other persons, charged with the duty of maintaining the peace, to employ tear gas or the like for dispersing unlawful assemblages of people in public places, or for quelling riots, or even for calming a person resisting'arrest. However, in order to use the ordinary aerosol device for dispensing the tear gas or the likegthe user must employ one hand, at least, and this may interfere with his instant use of 'more positive means.

The present invention has for its object the avoidance of such a situation as just suggested, by incorporating in a club, such as a police billy or nightstick, a device for dispensing such substances as tear gas, for example, without depriving the user of the instantaneous and effective use of the club in the ordinary fashion, and without danger of accidental or unauthorized discharge of the contents of the aerosol device.

Briefly stated the invention, as herein specifically disclosed, is embodied in a police billy club having an axial chamber extending down from its tip, and of a size appropriate to receive an aerosol container of standard size. There is a removable cap which normally closes the upper end of said chamber. This'cap has a cylindrical plug portion of a diameter to fit into the chamber. The club is provided with external trigger means actuatable by the thumb of a person grasping the club in his hand for opening the discharge valve of the container. The wall of the chamber has a discharge port through which material, freed from the container, may flow out into the ambient air, and safety means operative to prevent delivery of material through said discharge port in response to actuation of the trigger device, until the safety means has first been properly set by rotation of the cap.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevation partly broken away, showing a police club or billy embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevation, to larger scale, showing the end cap separated from the butt portion, and one element of the locking means whereby the end cap may be held in operative position;

FIG. 3 is a section in the plane of line 33 of FIG. 1, but to the same scale as FIG. 2, showing the other element of the locking means; I

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary diagrammatic section on the line 44 of FIG. I, to much larger scale, showing the upper portion of the club with the removable cap in place and showing an aerosol container housed within the hollow upper portion of the club; the delivery passage through which the contents of the aerosol container may be discharged into the ambient air; and means for initiating the dispensing operation; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary section similar to FIG. 4, but to smaller scale, showing an alternative arrangement whereby the aerosol container may be caused to release its contents.

Referring to FIG. 1, the numeral 30 designates the improved billy club according to the present invention. This club has a conventional elongate butt portion 2; a handle portion 3, and a removable cap or tip portion 4. Referring to FIGS. 14 and 5, the butt portion 2 is shown as having an axial chamber 5 extending downwardly from the tip portion. The cap 4, (FIG. 2) which is of a maximum external diameter approximating that of the butt portion 2, comprises an integral plug portion 6 (FIG. 4) of a diameter to fit snugly within the chamber 5 of the butt portion. Any suitable means may be provided for removably securing the cap portion 4 to the butt portion, but as here shown, the butt portion has an inwardly projecting radial pin 7 (FIGS. 4 and 5) which cooperates with a Tshaped slot 7a (FIG. 2) in the plug portion 6 of the cap to form a bayonet-type lock, so that, by pushing the plug portion down into the interior chamber 5 of the butt portion with the upright portion of the T-slot directly above the pin 7, and pushing the cap down until the transverse part of the T-slot is registered with the pin 7, and then turning the cap until the pin is at one end of the transverse part of the slot, the cap will be held in position until reversely turned. The cap is provided with index elements a, b, and c (FIG. 2) for cooperation with a mark on the butt portion 2 to assist in positioning the cap.

As shown to larger scale in FIG. 4, an aerosol container C is housed in the chamber 5. This container has a short rigid delivery tube 8 which fits into a socket in the plug portion 6 of the cap. The discharge end of the delivery tube 8 is aligned with an axial passage 9 in the plug portion 6 of the cap, the passage 9 having a radial extension 9a which leads to a discharge port or atomizing nozzle 10 in the wall of the chamber 5. Ashere shown the aerosol container is one which may be caused to discharge its contents by upward pressure upon its bottom. In conventional manner the short tube 8 is vertically slidable relatively to the container proper and if the tube 8 be held stationary and the container raised, the arrangement is such that a valve (not shown) is thereby opened permitting the contents of the container to flow into the passage 9.

The socket in which the rigid delivery tube 8 of the container is fitted is such that upward motion of the tube 8, when pressure is applied to the bottom of the container, is prevented, and thus the discharge of the contents of the container is initiated. If the tube is designed to fit snugly in the socket, removal of the cap from the butt portion will remove the container with it.

A trigger device 12 (FIGS. 4 and 5), which is a rigid part, pivoted at one end 13 in a slot 14 in the wall 511 of the chamber 5, extends across the chamber and through a slot 15 in the wall of the chamber 5 and has a fingerpiece 16 at its outer end. This trigger member 12 has a contact portion 17 which engages the bottom of the container C. Upward pressure against the finger piece 16 will apply pressure to the bottom of the container and thus initiate discharge of thecontents.

An alternative arrangement is illustrated in FIG. 5, such that the trigger device may be located nearer to the handle of the club.

In this arrangement, the trigger is a rigid, elongate member 12a which slides in diametrically opposite slots I9, 19a in the wall of the chamber 5. At its midportion, the trigger has a cam surface 23 which engages the lower end of a rod 25 which is guided to slide freely in a hole in a plug 26 fixed in the chamber 5. The rod 24 is of a length such that when pressure is applied to the end of the trigger 12a, the upper end of the rod 25 will rise and push the container upwardly, and so initiate discharge of the contents of the container. Pins 27 and 28 limit motion of the trigger 12b.

After force has been applied to the end 26 of the trigger device, such as to apply upward pressure to the bottom 11 of the aerosol container, the discharge of material from the container may be terminated by applying pressure to the opposite end 26a of the trigger device. The arrangements thus shown for initiating and terminating discharge of material from an aerosol device are by way of example, but other and equivalent means may be substituted if an aerosol container having a different mode of operation is employed.

As above described, when the plug portion 6 of the cap 4 is to be inserted in the chamber 5, the cap must first be so oriented that the lower end of the upright part U of the T- shaped slot is aligned with the pin 7. Then when the plug has been fully inserted, the cap may be turned a part rotation in either direction, the horizontal part of the T-shaped slot permitting such motion. When the cap is turned in one direction, the passage 9a in the plug 9 registers with the discharge port or nozzle 10. Then, if the trigger be actuated to open the valve of the container, the contents of the container may escape into the ambient atmosphere. However, if the cap be turned in the opposite direction the passage 9a would be occluded by the wall of the chamber, and even though the trigger 12 were then actuated, none of the contents of the container could escape to the outside air, Since the parts would ordinarily be left in the latter position until it were desired to discharge the contents of the container and since the pin 7 and the T-shaped slot are hidden from view, it would not be evident to a noninformed person, who had actuated the trigger, without results, that the cap must first be turned and in the proper direction before actuating the trigger in order to discharge the contents of the container. It is clear that accidental rotation of the cap to the one proper position would not be at all probable. Thus with this arrangement accidental or unauthorized discharge of the contents of a container is avoided.

While the receptacle C has been referred to as an aerosol container" that term has been employed for convenience (and not by way of limitation) as designating a dispensing device of that class wherein the material to be dispensed, whether a gas, a liquid or a powder, is expelled from the container by the pressure of a gas compressed within the container and wherein the discharge of the contents of the container is initiated by pressure applied to an external element or portion of the container itself by a manually actuated trigger device.

While one desirable embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described by way of example, it is to be understood that the invention is broadly inclusive of any and all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

lclaim:

l. A nightstick comprising an elongate cylindrical body portion having at one end a handle and adjacent the other end an internal cylindrical chamber defined by a sleevelike wall, said chamber extending inwardly from said end and being provided with a cap comprising a cylindrical portion having a cylindrical outer surface forming a continuation of the cylindrical outer surface of the body portion and a cylindrical plug portion which fits into the open end of the chamber, said plug portion containing a T-shaped recess therein and said wall having a hole through it into which is threaded a retaining pin with its inner end engaged within the head of the T-shaped slot, said cap being rotatable to align the stem of the T-shaped slot with the pin to enable removing the cap, and said cap further containing a passage, a portion of which is located at the center thereof and in communication with the chamber, and a portion of which is radially disposed and extends to the sidewall of the chamber and said sidewall having a hole through it in alignment with the radial passage in which there is fixed a nozzle plug such that the nozzle passage is in communication with the passage in the cap, said nozzle passage being close to the distal end of the nightstick, said chamber being adapted to receive an aerosol container provided with a delivery tube and said portion of the passage in communication with the chamber containing an enlarged pocket into which the delivery tube is adapted to fit, and means comprising a lever supported diametrically of the body portion in a position to provide support for the base of the container, said lever being operable to effect relative movement of the container with respect to its delivery tube to effect discharge from the container through said passageand nozzle.

2. A nightstick according to claim 1, wherein a pin supports the lever in the chamber adjacent the base of the container with one end in the wall and the other end projecting through the wall, and means on the lever for supporting the base of the container with its delivery tube within the socket and operable by movement of the lever to effect axial movement of the container within the chamber relative to the delivery tube.

3. A nightstick according to claim 1, wherein the lever is located close to the handle, a plug is mounted in the chamber between the handle and the base of the container containing an axially and centrally located hole and a rod is mounted in said hole with one end engaged with the lever and the other with the base of the container.

4. A nightstick comprising an elongate cylindrical body portion havin atpne end a handle and at the other end an internal, axial y disposed cylindrical chamber, said handle and body portion of the club being solid, a nozzle element secured in the side of the body portion in communication with the interior of the chamber, a pluglike cap adapted to be rotatably mounted in the open end of the chamber, said pluglike cap containing a passage, a portion of which is in communication with the chamber and another portion of which is located in a position such that it is adapted to be aligned with the nozzle element by rotation of the cap in one direction, and to be moved away from said nozzle element by rotation in the opposite direction, means for supporting an aerosol container in the chamber provided with a delivery tube with its delivery tube in communication with that portion of the passage in the plug which is in communication with the chamber, and means supported adjacent the base of the container operable to effect movement of the latter relative to the delivery tube such as to effect release of the content of the container, said cap when rotated away from said nozzle element preventing accidental ejection of the contents of the container should the last-named means be inadvertently actuated. 

1. A nightstick comprising an elongate cylindrical body portion having at one end a handle and adjacent the other end an internal cylindrical chamber defined by a sleevelike wall, said chamber extending inwardly from said end and being provided with a cap comprising a cylindrical portion having a cylindrical outer surface forming a continuation of the cylindrical outer surface of the body portion and a cylindrical plug portion which fits into the open end of the chamber, said plug portion containing a T-shaped recess therein and said wall having a hole through it into which is threaded a retaining pin with its inner end engaged within the head of the T-shaped slot, said cap being rotatable to align the stem of the T-shaped slot with the pin to enable removing the cap, and said cap fUrther containing a passage, a portion of which is located at the center thereof and in communication with the chamber, and a portion of which is radially disposed and extends to the sidewall of the chamber and said sidewall having a hole through it in alignment with the radial passage in which there is fixed a nozzle plug such that the nozzle passage is in communication with the passage in the cap, said nozzle passage being close to the distal end of the nightstick, said chamber being adapted to receive an aerosol container provided with a delivery tube and said portion of the passage in communication with the chamber containing an enlarged pocket into which the delivery tube is adapted to fit, and means comprising a lever supported diametrically of the body portion in a position to provide support for the base of the container, said lever being operable to effect relative movement of the container with respect to its delivery tube to effect discharge from the container through said passage and nozzle.
 2. A nightstick according to claim 1, wherein a pin supports the lever in the chamber adjacent the base of the container with one end in the wall and the other end projecting through the wall, and means on the lever for supporting the base of the container with its delivery tube within the socket and operable by movement of the lever to effect axial movement of the container within the chamber relative to the delivery tube.
 3. A nightstick according to claim 1, wherein the lever is located close to the handle, a plug is mounted in the chamber between the handle and the base of the container containing an axially and centrally located hole and a rod is mounted in said hole with one end engaged with the lever and the other with the base of the container.
 4. A nightstick comprising an elongate cylindrical body portion having at one end a handle and at the other end an internal, axially disposed cylindrical chamber, said handle and body portion of the club being solid, a nozzle element secured in the side of the body portion in communication with the interior of the chamber, a pluglike cap adapted to be rotatably mounted in the open end of the chamber, said pluglike cap containing a passage, a portion of which is in communication with the chamber and another portion of which is located in a position such that it is adapted to be aligned with the nozzle element by rotation of the cap in one direction, and to be moved away from said nozzle element by rotation in the opposite direction, means for supporting an aerosol container in the chamber provided with a delivery tube with its delivery tube in communication with that portion of the passage in the plug which is in communication with the chamber, and means supported adjacent the base of the container operable to effect movement of the latter relative to the delivery tube such as to effect release of the content of the container, said cap when rotated away from said nozzle element preventing accidental ejection of the contents of the container should the last-named means be inadvertently actuated. 